I am expecting a mortgage offer from Lloyds. I would like to retain the legal services of a Licensed Conveyancer in Paddington. Does the Lloyds Solicitor panel exclude conveyancers regulated by the CLC?

The Lloyds approved solicitor list is, like many other lenders, associated to the Council or Mortgage Lenders or BSA, open to Licensed Conveyancers regulated by the CLC.

Can conveyancing in Paddington to be completed inside 10 days?

Where you are under time constraints for your conveyancing it is highly recommended that your lawyer is familiar with the location as they will have local contacts and intelligence. It is possible that they may have conducted otherhouses in the same neighbourhood. You would be best advised to use a Paddington conveyancing lawyer. Second, be sure that the lawyer is on the lender panel. It is claimed that nearly one in five of Paddington conveyancing transactions are delayed or derailed after finding out that a buyer’s lawyer was not on their mortgage lender’s panel. In many cases this discovery resulted in the home move being frustrated by an average of 21 days. It is said that this issue affects approximately 100,000 home sales annually. Most Paddington conveyancing firms can not act for certain lenders so do check at the outset.

I have a renovated Victorian house in Paddington. Conveyancing practitioner acted for me and National Westminster Bank. I did a free Land Registry search last week and I saw a couple of entries: the first freehold, the second leasehold with the matching address. If a house is not a freehold shouldn't I have been informed?

You need to assess the Freehold register you have again and check the Charges Register for mention of a lease. The best way to be sure that you are also the registered owner of the leasehold and freehold title as well is to check (£3). It is not completely unheard of in Paddington and other areas of the country and poses no real issues for owners other than when they sell they have to account for both freehold and leasehold interests when dealing with mortgage companies. You can also check the situation with your conveyancing solicitor who conducted the work.

About to purchase a new build apartment in Paddington. Conveyancing is daunting at the best of times but I have never purchased a new build flat before. Can you give me some examples of some of the questions asked in new build legal work.

Set out below are examples of a selection of leasehold new build enquiries that you should expect your new-build leasehold conveyancing in Paddington

Where there is an Undertaking being granted there is the risk of forfeiture of the Headlease subject to relief if one or more of the Underlessees are willing to accept the original Head Lessee’s obligations as otherwise relief will be denied to the Underlessees. The only alternatives are the Head Lessor agreeing not to forfeit the Headlease or the Head Lessee guaranteeing to the Underlessees that it will not be in breach of the Headlease. There must be mutual enforceability of lessee’s covenants. Has the Lease plan been approved by the Land Registry and if not when will they be lodged for this purpose? If there are lifts in the building, please confirm that the owners of flats on the ground and basement floors will not be required to contribute towards the cost of maintenance and renewal. The Landlord must covenant to assume the management if the Management Company goes into liquidation or otherwise defaults in running the management scheme.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Paddington conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Paddington conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Paddington conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. The following questions could be of use:

How familiar is the practice with lease extension legislation? If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?

After months of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Paddington. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Paddington conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Paddington flat is Flats 37 & 39 88/90 Portland Place in December 2010. The Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the lease extensions in respect of these two flats is as follows:- For Flat 37, the sum of £385,230.00 For Flat 39, the sum of £436,780.00 This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 24.02 years.